1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations.
2. Concerning Egypt. Against the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah:
3. Prepare buckler and shield!move forward to battle!
4. Harness the horses,charioteers, mount up!Fall in, with helmets on;polish your spears, put on your armor.
5. What do I see?Are they panicking, falling apart?Their warriors are hammered back,They flee headlongnever making a stand.Terror on every side—oracle of the Lord!
6. The swift cannot flee,nor the warrior escape:There up north, on the banks of the Euphratesthey stumble and fall.
7. Who is this? Like the Nile, it rears up;like rivers, its waters surge.
8. Egypt rears up like the Nile,like rivers, its waters surge.“I will rear up,” it says, “and cover the earth,destroying the city and its people.
9. Forward, horses!charge, chariots!March forth, warriors,Cush and Put, bearing shields,Archers of Lud, stretching bows!”
10. Today belongs to the Lord God of hosts,a day of vengeance, vengeance on his foes!The sword devours and is sated, drunk with their blood:for the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrificein the land of the north, on the River Euphrates.
11. Go up to Gilead, procure balm,Virgin daughter Egypt!No use to multiply remedies;for you there is no healing.
12. The nations hear your cries,your screaming fills the earth.Warrior stumbles against warrior,both collapse together.
13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, came to attack the land of Egypt:
14. Proclaim in Egypt, announce in Migdol,announce in Memphis and Tahpanhes!Say: Fall in, get ready,the sword has devoured your neighbors.
15. Why has Apis fled?Your champion did not stand,Because the Lord thrust him down;
16. he stumbled repeatedly then collapsed.They said to each other,“Get up! We must return to our own people,To the land of our birth,away from the destroying sword.”
17. Give Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the name“Braggart-missed-his-chance.”
18. As I live, says the Kingwhose name is Lord of hosts,Like Tabor above mountains,like Carmel above the sea, he comes.
19. Pack your bags for exile,enthroned daughter Egypt;Memphis shall become a wasteland,an empty ruin.
20. Egypt is a beautiful heifer,a horsefly from the north keeps coming.
21. Even the mercenaries in her ranksare like fattened calves;They too turn and flee together—they do not stand their ground,For their day of ruin comes upon them,their time of punishment.